What's New?
Donkey Sculptures
3 life size steel donkey sculptures have been put out to grass on the corner of Selworthy Road and St Ives Road, as part of the South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership’s Art Strategy.
The 3 donkeys have been created by sculptor Sally Matthews. Sally has spent the last 9 months creating the donkeys at her workshop in Wales. Sally spent time in Weston studying the donkeys on Weston super Mare beach for inspiration and used the photographs and drawings from her visits to help bring the donkeys to life.
The donkeys have been installed in this special place on the Bournville as it is where they used to cross on their walk from the beach to their winter pasture. The donkeys are part of the South Ward Art Strategy, commissioned by the South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership.
Giant Dandelion
A new sculpture has arrived on the Oldmixon, complementing the newly refurbished shopping parade at Aller Parade.
The sculpture is part of the South Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership’s Art Strategy, The Rhynes Art Project, which aims to reveal the hidden character of the ward and help create sense of place.
The sculpture is a giant dandelion ball. It consists of a huge steel ball covered in gold leaf and enveloped by a myriad of aeroplane silhouettes such as Westland wyverns and widgeons, which form the ‘seeds’ of the dandelion sculpture. These planes refer to the past importance of the airfield as a dispersal airfield, with planes leaving for many parts of the country, just as dandelion seeds may be dispersed in all directions by the wind.
It has been created by artist Andy Hazell in response to a brief created by lead artist Mike Fletcher along with the local community and the neighbourhood management team.
The new sculpture is nearly 6m high, with a sphere of 1.7m and is located at the edge of Aller Parade next to Winterstoke Road.
Westonworks
westonworks is the name of the new One Stop Skills and Job Shop which is now open at 6a St Andrews Parade in Weston-super-Mare.
The aim is to help local adults to reach their full potential in education, enterprise and employment. If you would like to talk to someone about changing your career or looking for work the why not call in at 6a St Andrews Parade or call on 01934 426260.
Westonworks is open: 10:00am – 4:00pm, Monday – Friday
New Play Equipment in Oldmixon
South Ward Neighbourhood Management Board approved the funding of an additional piece of play equipment for the play area on the Oldmixon estate. We would like to thank all of the children that have taken part in consultation for this piece for children aged 8+. The most popular piece of play equipment was the Giant Spinning Net and it will be installed in the Autumn 2010.
Below is a photo of this equipment in another park.
Chocolate Garden
Bournville Area Resident’s Association are very pleased to announce that they have reached their fundraising target of £108, 000 and can now go ahead and build the community garden opposite the For All Healthy Living Centre in the Bournville Area of Weston-super-Mare.
The group’s vision for the garden is of a tranquil green oasis in the heart of the estate that will be visited and supported by local residents.
The site for the Chocolate Garden is a derelict drying area for some nearby maisonettes and is blighted by fly tipping and ASB.
The Bournville Area Residents' Association identified it as an area for redevelopment in 2007 and some members attended Spaces by Design training at Trafford Hall training centre in Cheshire and developed the plan for the garden with Landscape Architects over a 3 day period. Since that course in 2007, the residents have agreed the development plans with landowner NS Housing, completed consultation with local people and raised the anticipated cost for the garden!
The garden will have a chocolate theme, linking the name of the estate to the famous chocolate made by Cadbury’s, and features will include a chocolate themed mural, raised beds and seating and a bespoke made wrought iron entrance.
Bournville Area Residents Association is keen to employ local designers and builders to undertake the work and to involve local schools and groups in the design of the mural.
It has taken almost three years for the garden to reach this stage, and now that the garden is certain to go ahead the group are planning to celebrate with a ‘Chocolate event’ on the 1st June at the site and are keen to invite as many local people as possible to come along and see their plans.
The group are supported by the Neighbourhood Management Team, and by NSHousing who also own the land. Both of these organisations have contributed to the funding of the project. The Big Lottery Changing Spaces fund are also supporting and funding the project.
Roseanne Warwick who is the chair of Neighbourhood Management and a Bournville Resident said "Neighbourhood Management were very keen to support and fund this project as it had been led by local residents who came up with the initial idea and have worked so hard to make their plans a reality"
The completion target for the Garden is October 2010, and during the development there will be opportunities to visit the garden and see it develop.
Download the Chocolate Garden Poster (pdf, 389kb)
For further information contact Victoria Rooke on 01934 426664, victoria.rooke@n-somerset.gov.uk.